NEW POLISH LEADER WEIGHS INCREASING COMMUNIST POSTS

By JOHN TAGLIABUE, Special to The New York Times

Published: August 21, 1989

WARSAW, Aug. 20—
The Solidarity leader designated to be Poland's Prime Minister said today that he would consider giving the Communist Party more high-level Government posts than envisioned earlier, as the two sides appeared headed toward a period of hard bargaining on the new Cabinet.

''This must be a wider coalition, so we will see how many portfolios they can have,'' said Tadeusz Mazowiecki, who was nominated to be Prime Minister on Saturday and is expected to be approved by Parliament this week.

Mr. Mazowiecki, who will be the first non-Communist Prime Minister of Poland since the early postwar years, spoke to reporters after the Communist Party Central Committee issued a resolution Saturday night rejecting Solidarity's offer of only two ministries in the new Cabinet, Defense and Interior. No Detailed Agreement

The resolution said the party's representation in the Government ''must correspond to its political and state potential,'' adding, ''Otherwise we will not be able to assume co-responsibility for the course of developments.''

Solidarity has no formal agreement with the Communist Party that assigns the Communists just the two ministries. But to pave the way for the Solidarity-led Government, the union last week declared its willingness to allow Communist officials to control the sensitive ministries dealing with the military and the secret police.

In agreeing to nominate Mr Mazowiecki last week, Poland's President, Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski, gave no public indication that the two posts would be insufficient. Solidarity Meeting in Gdansk

Mr. Mazowiecki made his conciliatory comments toward the party before he, Lech Walesa and other Solidarity leaders met in Gdansk to discuss who will get which posts in the Cabinet and what programs it will pursue.

It remained unclear when Mr. Mazowiecki will present his Cabinet, but Jacek Ambroziak, a lawyer and aide to Mr. Mazowiecki, said this would happen ''as quickly as possible, perhaps by the end of August.''

Mr. Mazowiecki received a joyous homecoming welcome today in Gdansk, the Baltic port where he helped create the Solidarity trade union nine years ago. He told thousands gathered to greet him that ''giant tasks'' lay ahead and that the nation needed ''bread more than a prime minister.'' Solidarity's Birthplace

Appearing before the crowd with Mr. Walesa, Mr. Mazowiecki projected the image of a man searching for solutions in his speech, which was delivered from the stone steps of a Catholic church rectory several blocks from the big Lenin Shipyard, where the accords giving birth to Solidarity were signed on Aug. 31, 1980.

He said that although others in the West or elsewhere might be prepared to help, Poles could find the strength to resolve their problems only within themselves.

''I think that there is only one way,'' he told the crowd. ''We sang today at the church, 'Poland lives, Poland is growing.' We must believe that this nation, a wonderful nation, can reach the stage where life will be better in Poland, so that no one lacks anything in Poland, that no one leaves it.''

''Today when we open this historic chapter,'' he continued, ''we must reject a feeling of hopelessness and helplessness. It must be rejected because no one can do anything without believing that it can be done.'' Reflection of Change

The start of the Solidarity meeting was the first item on the television news tonight, a measure of the changes already wrought in Poland; most of the leaders attending the meeting were either jailed or underground only a few years ago.

To take office, a new Cabinet must be approved by a majority of the 460-member Assembly, the lower house of Parliament. Such a majority appears assured, given the agreement last week between Solidarity and two small parties traditionally aligned with the Communists, the United Peasant Alliance and the Democratic Alliance. That led to Mr. Mazowiecki's nomination on Saturday by General Jaruzelski.

In its statement calling for greater representation in the Government, the Communist Central Committee said it believed a ''grand coalition'' was the best type of government for Poland.

''Poland can be led out of its crisis through evolutionary and consistent reforms only by a government including all the political forces in Parliament,'' it said. ''A grand coalition government cannot be replaced by ad hoc alliances of convenience.''

For Solidarity the day was one of triumph, especially at St. Brygida's in Gdansk, the parish church of the shipyard workers whose militancy over the years catapulted Mr. Walesa from the role of shipyard electrician to engineer of a new government.

Mr. Mazowiecki, 62 years old, drove his red Peugeot automobile to Gdansk from Warsaw, and people present when Mr. Walesa welcomed him said he had embraced Mr. Mazowiecki and planted kisses on his cheeks.

Bantering before they entered St. Brygida's to attend Mass, the 45-year-old Mr. Walesa told Mr. Mazowiecki: ''I just want a guarantee of two things. First, warn me before I'm about to be arrested. And second, give me a permanent pass into the government.'' 'Our Greatest Achievement'

Despite the banter, Mr. Walesa reflected the conviction of Solidarity leaders that they were experiencing a moment of historic proportions.

''This is our greatest achievement since Yalta,'' he said, referring to the decisions made in the Crimea in February 1945 that most Poles believe relegated their country to the Soviet sphere of domination.

At the start of the Mass in the soaring red-brick Gothic church, the faithful intoned Poland's national hymn, with its first verse, ''Poland has not yet perished as long as we are alive.''

''We have to stride along the road to democracy as well as to an improved economy, but we must also believe that we are capable of this,'' he said. ''And if I do become the future Prime Minister, I have no other path than this: that despite difficulties I believe that we can do it.''

He paused, then added, ''Poland is alive.'' Food Expensive and Scarce

The bulk of Poles' money and much of their time these days goes toward obtaining food. Efforts by the Communist Government to deregulate the food market as of Aug. 1 have had little effect other than to push food prices up as much as tenfold, while food shop shelves remain bare.

The result has been a ripple of work stoppages and wildcat strikes across the country in recent weeks.

The economy was expected to figure large in the Solidarity leaders' deliberations, and Mr. Walesa suggested they would reiterate previous appeals to the West for help.

Mr. Mazowiecki, addressing the throng, proved a master at handling hecklers, a band of whom interrupted the speech with shouts of, ''We need bread, not a prime minister!''

Turning to them, Mr. Mazowiecki responded, ''I see the enormous and difficult tasks ahead of us, and I'm well aware that we need bread more than a prime minister.'' The crowd cheered. But with a Lincolnesque melancholy tempered by gentle humor that is fast becoming familiar to Polish television viewers, Mr. Mazowiecki repeatedly insisted on the ability of Poles to help themselves.

''Why should we be a nation that cannot make it?'' he asked rhetorically. ''It's not like that. We are a skillful nation, and we can make it. We can.''